Medical office facility with two or more examining rooms having a common equipment core area

ABSTRACT

A building construction and method of use thereof wherein equipment for use in two or more rooms is contained in a core area common to the rooms and conveyed therein in a manner to maintain isolation between the rooms. In a preferred embodiment, a medical facility is provided for the examination of patients wherein at least two patient examining rooms have a common equipment core area adjacent to both examining rooms. Equipment pods containing medical equipment for given various medical specialties are contained in the core area and are accessible from each examining room, thereby increasing equipment utilization.

United States Patent [191 Greenspan MEDICAL OFFICE FACILITY WITH TWO ORMORE EXAMINING ROOMS HAVING A COMMON EQUIPMENT CORE AREA Inventor:Donald J. Greenspan, Riverside, NJ.

Assignee: U.S. Medical Research and Development Incorporated, Riverside,NJ.

Filed: July 24, 1970 Appl. No; 57,981

[52] U.S. Cl. 128/1 R, 52/750, 214/16 B,

104/88 Int. Cl B61j 1/00 Field of Search 104/88, 35, 89;

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 9/1971 Abromavage 104/898/1968 Smith 52/65 3/1921 Shaul 1 52/65 1/1965 Chapman 52/64 July 3,1973 2,764,783 10/1956 Teller ..52/65 2,964,144 12/1960 Whee1er....52/65 2,823,425 2/1958 Granek ..52/65 3,543,688 10/1970 Ernst ..104 35Primary ExaminerRobert G. Sheridan Assistant ExaminerD. W. KeenAttorney-Woodcock, Washburn, Kurtz & Mackiewicz [57] ABSTRACT A buildingconstruction and method of use thereof wherein equipment for use in twoor more rooms is contained in a core area common to the rooms andconveyed therein in a manner to maintain isolation between the rooms. Ina preferred embodiment, a medical facility is provided for theexamination of patients wherein at least two patient examining roomshave a common equipment core area adjacent to both examining rooms.Equipment pods containing medical equipment for given various medicalspecialties are com tained in the core area and are accessible from eachexamining room, thereby increasing equipment utilizatron.

11 Claims, 16 Drawing Figures PATENTEDJULS ma SHEU '4 BF 4 MEDICALOFFICE FACILITY WITH TWO OR MORE EXAMINING ROOMS HAVING A COMMONEQUIPMENT CORE AREA BACKGROUND OF THE INVENTION This invention relatesgenerally to a building structure having a common equipment area for twoor more rooms, and more specifically relates to an improved arrangementof two or more medical examining rooms which requires only one set ofpatient examining equipment.

There has been a well-known trend of medical doctors to specialize invarious medical areas, such as general practice, ear-nose-throat,surgery, cardiology, etc. There has also been a trend for medicaldoctors to share office examining and treatment facilities due to theexpense of such facilities and the fact that many doctors do not needsuch facilities on a full time basis. These trends are not just recentones but have developed in various stages over a long period of time.These concurrently developing trends have created a need for medicalexamining facilities and techniques for use thereof wherein severalmedical specialists may utilize a common facility including at least twopatient examining rooms. One specialist, for instance, may utilize thefacility a few mornings a week, another specialist utilize the facilitythe remaining mornings of each week, and yet a third specialist utilizethe facility certain afternoons of each week, and so forth. Eachspecialist, during his use of the facility, requires medical examiningand treatment equipment which is peculiar to his specialty and not oftendesired by the other medical specialists sharing the same facility. Eachspecialist utilizes the facility by examining a patient in one of the atleast two examining rooms while a nurse or other personnel prepares apatient in a second examining room. When the doctor finishes with onepatient in the first examining room he then proceeds to the secondexaminingroom. Each specialist generally requires the same equipmentavailable for use in each of the two examining rooms.

Since each specialist requires his own particular type of equipment whenhe is in each of the two examining rooms, one approach would be toinstall such equipment in each of the rooms. The difficulty with thisapproach is that each of the rooms would become cluttered because of thelarge variety of equipment necessary for each of the specialists while agiven specialist at a given time would only be using one piece ofequipment in each room. Besides the unsightly character of such anarrangement, the examining rooms would have to be large for storage ofsuch equipment, thereby increasing the rental or real estate costs forsuch a medical facility. Therefore, it is an object of this invention toprovide each medical specialist with the equipment that he needs in eachexamining room when he is present therein to examine a patient withoutthe presence of idle equipment used by other specialists at other times.

One possibility in satisfying this object is to have a storage room forthe various types of equipment from which equipment pertaining to aparticular specialty is moved into each examining room for use duringthe few hours that the specialist is using the facility. However, thisapproach has certain difficulties since a great deal of time of otherpersonnel is required in moving equipment around if stored in ahodgepodge manner.

Therefore, it is another object of this invention to provide for orderlymovement and removal of medical specialty equipment into each of theexamining rooms.

It is yet another object of the present invention to make it necessaryfor a given specialist or general practitioner to only have one set ofequipment which can be transferred between examining rooms as the doctoralternately utilizes them to examine a succession of patients, therebyto reduce medical equipment cost.

It is also an object of the present invention to provide a technique andmedical facility for improving the efficiency of each of severaldistinct medical specialists when using the facility.

It is yet a further object of the present invention to provide atechnique and a medical facility therefor which minimizes the necessityto move a patient to examining equipment.

It is an additional object of the present invention to provide a patientexamining room with various items of equipment conveniently located withrespect to the patient.

It is a more general object of the present invention to provideaccessibility of common equipment to at least two rooms within abuilding structure while maintaining isolation of each room.

SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION These and additional objects are realized bythe present invention wherein at least two patient examining roomswithin a medical building structure have adjacent thereto a commonequipment core area. Equipment is stored in the common core area.Support and guiding means are provided so that a desired piece ofspecial equipment may be conveyed from the core area into either of theat least two rooms when desired. According to one aspect of theinvention, the core area is a separate room adjacent to the two or morerooms and has a separate common wall with each room. The at least twocommon walls each have coverable openings therein for passage ofequipment therethrough from the core area to either of the at least tworooms. Equipment is preferably supported and guided along apredetermined path through each of the openings by some means such astracks either suspended between the building floor and ceiling orsupported directly on the floor. Each common wall opening is providedwith a door or some other closure means for separating the two roomsafter equipment has been moved from the core area into one of the tworooms. The common equipment core area may be either large enough tocontain several pieces of equipment for use in either of the two roomsor be made very small with a provision for moving equipment between thecore area and an equipment storage area.

Various pieces of special medical equipment are carried by movablesupporting pods. The medical equipment most often used by a doctor usingthe facility is cility arrangement is a minimization of equipment costto the doctor since only a single set of equipment is transferredbetween examining rooms. Medical equipment less often used by the doctorcan be carried by other pods that may remain in the core area andaccessible to him from either of the at least two examining rooms.Therefore, each examining room may be of reduced size from that whichwould be required if all necessary equipment were to be installed in.each of the two or more examining rooms.

Such a medical facility may be adapted for use at different times bydoctors of different medical specialties who, therefore, each requiresubstantially different medical equipment in their practices. Equipmentfor each specialist is mounted on a single pod. When there is a changeof doctors using the medical facility, the pod for use by the seconddoctor is substituted for the pod used by the first doctor. All of themedical specialty pods for the doctors sharing the medical facility arestored, according to one aspect of the present invention, in the corearea. According to another aspect of the present invention, the variousspecialty pods are stored in an area removed from the two or moreexamining rooms, the appropriate pod of pods being moved from storageinto the core area each time a doctor takes over the medical facilitywho requires different examining and treatment equipment from the doctorbefore him.

The equipment pod in use by a given doctor is transferred between thetwo examining rooms manually, such as by a nurse or paramedicalpersonnel, or is moved by some automatic means. After an equipment podhas been moved into one of the two examination rooms for use by thedoctor, a barrier is provided between the two examining rooms toseparate patients therein.

In the embodiments of the present invention wherein the core area is aroom adjacent the examining rooms, the closure means over the opening ineach of the common wall areas may be a common door which is opened asthe equipment is moved between examining rooms. This door may be 'ahinged one or a sliding one. Alternatively, the common wall areas may beprovided with a sliding portion having an opening therein which whenmatched with the opening of a fixed wall portion provides a path for theequipment. Circular examining rooms with circular sliding walls haveadvantages in the appearance and stability of the sliding walls as wellas providing accessibility to and from the rooms. A variation inequipment movement provides for pivoting the equipment within the commoncore area from facing one examining room to facing the other examiningroom and then having the common wall area of the examining room.

In the embodiments of the present invention wherein several equipmentpods are stored in the core area, there are alternate ways in whichaccess may be provided for each pod into the two or more examiningrooms. Separate openings may be provided in the common wall areasbetween the core room area and the examining rooms so that eachequipment pod is transferred between equipment rooms through its ownindependent covered opening. An alternative is to provide a singleopening in each of the common wall areas and mount each of the severaldistinct equipment pods on a rotating platform which orients a givensingle specialty equipment pod at a time in a manner that it may betransferred between examining rooms when desired.

For a more detailed disclosure of the invention in its various preferredembodiments and variations, and for further objects and advantages ofthe present invention, reference should be had to the followingdescription taken in conjunction with the accompanying drawings.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 schematically illustrates oneembodiment of the invention wherein two examining rooms are separated bya common core area which stores a plurality of equipment pods movableinto either examining room along their own exclusive paths;

FIG. 2 shows a modification of the embodiment of FIG. 1 whereindifferent types of equipment pods are utilized;

FIGS. 3 and 4 show yet another modification of the embodiment of FIG. 1;

FIG. 5 schematically illustrates another embodiment of the presentinvention wherein a plurality of equipment pods are carried by arotatable platform for selectively positioning a desired equipment podalong a common path of podmovement between the two examining rooms;

FIGSJSand 6A show modifications of the embodiment of FIG. 5;

FIG. 7 schematically shows a further embodiment FIG. 11 shows amodification of the invention shown in FIG. 8;

FIGS. 12 and 12A show another modification of the invention illustratedin FIG. 8;

FIG. 13 schematically illustrates another embodiment of the invention;and V FIG. 14 schematically shows still a further embodiment of thepresent invention utilizing a plurality of pairs of examining roomsarranged in a circular pattern and each having their own commonequipment core area.

DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Referring to FIG. I, examiningrooms 11 and 13 are substantially mirror images of each other. Doors 15and I7 allow entry of patients and physicians into the respectiveexamining rooms. Consultation desks l9 and 21 allow the physician todiscuss matters with the patient in each of the examining rooms 1 l and13, respectively. An examining table 23 is provided to be movable alonga track 25 within the examining room 11. An examining table 27 isprovided to be movable along a track 29 within the examining room 13.Sinks 31 and 33 are provided in each of the examining rooms 11 and 13,respectively. The sinks 31 and 33 are shown attached to walls of therespective examining rooms for convenience but it may be more desirableunder certain circumstances to provide the sinks 31 and 33 with flexibleplumbing so that they may be moved along with their respective examiningtables 23 and 27 for the convenience of the doctor.

Between the examining rooms 11 and 13 is a normally walled-off equipmentcore area 35 in which specialty equipment pods 37, 39 and 41 arenormally stored. Each of these pods contains equipment for a differentmedical specialty. The equipment is shown to be accessible from the topsurface of each of the pods. The pods 37, 39, 41 are movable into eitherof the examining rooms 11 or 13 on their individual tracks 43, 45, and47, respectively, which preferably carried by the floor of the structurein which the medical facility 1 is located. The tracks are provided sothat the pods may be more easily moved along a predetermined path butsuch a guiding means is not absolutely necessary. The pods may be movedbetween the examining rooms by hand, such as by a nurse when thephysician is changing rooms to examine a new patient, or the pods may bemechanized to travel under their own power or by some other automaticmeans from one examining room to the other. It will be understood, ofcourse, that other means than a track can be used to provide apredetermined path for each of the pods, or the track could be hung fromthe ceiling, or in some other convenient manner.

The examining room 11 is separated from the core area 35 by a wall 51having therein three doors (shown in FIG. 1 to be hinged) 37', 39 and41'. The examining room 13 and the common core area 35 are separated bya wall 49 having therein three doors shown in FIG. 1 to be hinged) 37",39" and 41". The door 39" into the examining room 13 is shown in itsopen position and the equipment pod 39 is shown on its track 45 to bewithin the room 13. The examining room 13, therefore, is shown in use.It will be noted that the examining table 27 has been positioned alongits track 29 to be very close to the equipment pod 39 for theconvenience of the physician. When the physician is finished with thepatient in the examining room 13, the pod 39 is moved back through thewall 49 into the core area 35. The door 39" is then closed, providingabarrier between the two examining rooms. The pod 39 is then moved outinto the examining room 11 by opening the door 39' of the wall 51. Theequipment pod 39 would then be positioned adjacent the examining table23 and the doctor may enter and perform services with the patient whohas been prepared previously by a nurse. While the doctor is working inexamining room 11, another patient is being prepared in examining room13. It will be noted that occupancy of the two examining roomssimultaneously is the reason that the various doors are provided in theway that they are so that at least one of the walls 49 or 51 is not openso that the patients may be kept separated by sight and sound.

FIG. 1 has been described by showing the use of the equipment pod 39which contains medical equipment for a given medical specialty. Afterthe doctor who practices that specialty has finished his several hoursallotted to him in this medical facility, the equipment pod 39 will bereplaced into the equipment core area 35 and both doors 39' and 39" willbe closed. A doctor practicing a different specialty may then take overthe medical facility for examining his patients during the next severalhours. Assume, for instance, that this doctor is using the specialtyequipment located on the equipment pod 41. Before his arrival orsimultaneously therewith, other personnel will move the examining tables23 and 27 along their respective tracks 25, and 29 to a positionopposite the tracks 47 along which the equipment pod 41 will be movedbetween the examining rooms 11 and 13. The doctor with the new specialtythen examines patients by traveling back and forth between the examiningrooms 11 and 13 while the equipment pod 41 is moved therebetween throughthe doors 41' and 41". It will be noted that the medical facilityillustrated with respect to FIG. 1 requires very little change when adoctor having one specialty takes over the facility from a doctor havinga completely different specialty. It will also be noted that only oneset of equipment is necessary for each doctor, although each is stillable to have the advantages of two separate examining rooms whichincreases their efficiency since other personnel may prepare a patientin an examining room other than the one in which he is presentlyexamining a patient. Such a medical facility makes it easier for doctorsof different specialties to share the facility. Furthermore, either ofthe pods 37 and 41 is available for use by a doctor by opening theproper door into the core area while the pod 39 remains in the examiningroom. This accessibility provides equipment not often required by agiven doctor to be available for those infrequent occasions when it isneeded.

It will be noted from FIG. 1 that each of the equipment pods 37, 39 and41, when moved into an examination room, faces each of the examiningtables of the examining rooms 11 and 13 in different directions. It maybe desirable for certain types of specialty equipment pods that the podsbe caused to face the same way into each examining room. A way in whichthis may be done is shown in FIG. 2. The equipment core area 35 in FIG.2 normally contains equipment pods 53, 55 and 57. In this embodiment,the pods do not travel back and forth between the examining rooms 11 and13 along a straight section of track but rather are provided to travelalong curved track sections as a means of turning the pod Other meanscould be used such as straight track sections with a pod supportingwheel movable along the long axis of the pod. For instance, theequipment pod 55 has been moved from a position similar to that of pods53 and 57 along a track 59 to face into the examining room 13. Theequipment pod 55 is shown to have equipment attached to aface 61 thereofand cantilevered therefrom for use by the physician. In this case, theequipment pod 55 need not extend very far into the examining room 13 butonly need present therein the face 61 (a vertical surface) so that thedoctor using the room may have access thereto. When the doctor movesfrom the examining room 13 back to the examining I room 11, theequipment is moved along track 59 to its storage position (similar tothat shown for pods 53 and 57) and then back out by means of track 63 sothat the pod face 61 is then facing into the equipment room 11 in aposition 180 displaced from its position shown in FIG. 2. The wallseparating the core area 35 from the examining rooms 11 and 13 is shownin FIG. 2 to include three sections of sliding doors as an alternativeto the hinged doors shown in FIG. 1, but either of these, and otherdoors as well, will work satisfactorily so long as there can bemaintained at least one wall without an opening between the twoexamining rooms to separate patients therein. 7

Under certain circumstances, it may be desirable to minimize movement ofequipment pods. FIGS. 3 and 4 show a medical facility in anothermodification of that of FIG. 1. Equipment pods 65, 67 and 69 containdifferent specialty equipment and are each pivotable about pivots 65',67' and 69', respectively. One advantage of limiting pod movement topivoting is that plumbing may be conveniently provided at the pivot, ifdesired. Such a simple pivoting operation for certain types of specialtyequipment pods may not move the pod far enough into each examining room.Therefore, walls 71 and 75, which separate the core area 35 from theexamining rooms 11 and 13, are made movable. FIG. 3 shows a situationwhere none of the equipment pods 65, 67 or 69 are within an examiningroom. However, the pod 69 in FIG. 3 equipment is oriented about is pivot69 in a manner to be placed in the examining room 13. When the wall 75is moved to contract the size of the equipment core area 35, as shown inFIG. 4, a door of the wall 35 isopened to effectively place the pod 69in the examining room 13. When the physician has completed examining apatient in the room 13 and wishes to return to the room 11 to examineanother patient, the wall 75 returns to the position shown in FIG. 3.Each of the pods 65, 67 and 69 rotate 180 about their respective pivots.The wall 71 then moves in a direction toward the'examining room 13 toconstrict the area of the equipment core area 35 and thereby placethrough a door of the wall 71 the equipment pod 69 into the examiningroom 11. A convenient variation in the use of the pods is to provide thepod 67 with a sink which would be alternated between examining roomsalong with one of the pods 65 or 69 which contain med ical equipment.

It will be noted in each of the specific arrangements of FIGS. 1-4 thatthe examining tables are relocated for each doctor practicing adifferent specialty in order to be adjacent to an equipment pod with hisspecialty equipment thereon. In the embodiment of FIGS. and 6, it isunnecessary to move the examining table to a new position for eachmedical specialist.

Referring to FIG. 5, elements thereof which are counterparts of elementsof FIG. 1 are given like reference characters. The examining tables 23and 27 remain in one place for use by doctors of all specialties whilevarious specialty equipment is moved to the table. Non-movement of theexamining tables has the further advantage of constantly positioning thepatient near a fixed sink and counter top. The core area 35 of FIG. 5includes a rotatable platform 77 in the floor of the facility. On theplatform are arranged the specialty equipment pods 37, 39 and 41 onplatform tracks providing for moving the pods. These tracks areangularly related to one another. The examining room 13 has a tracksection 79 in its floor and the examining room 11 has a track section 81in its floor. The rotatable platform 77 is shown in aposition where theequipment pod 39 may be moved along its track on the rotatable platform77 into either of the examining rooms 11 or 13, through either of thedoors 83 or 85, respectively. The doors 83 and 85 are part of walls 87and 89, respectively, which walls join into a common wall 91 having adoor therein allowing the physician to go between the examining rooms 11and 13. When the doctor does travel between the examining rooms, theequipment pod 39 is also changed from one examining room to the otheralong its guiding track either manually or by use of automatic motiveequipment. It may be noted that the rotatable platform 77 need notnecessarily be a part of the floor structure of the medical facility ifother types of equipment pods are used. For instance, such a rotatabledevice could be suspended in an overhead arrangement. It should also benoted that although pod supporting tracks are shown schematically inFIG. 5 and in later Figures as single lines, each track will generallyinclude a pair of parallel rails for better support. It will be notedthat after one physician of a given specialty has completed his time ofuse with the medical facility shown in FIG. 5, a physician having adifferent specialty may use the facility by having the rotatableplatform 77 rotated to place a track carrying the desired specialtyequipment pod along a line joining the permanent tracks 79 and 81. Hethen proceeds to examine patients by going back and forth between theexamining rooms 11 and 13 with the new equipment pod moved between theexamining rooms along the track. A modification of FIG. 5 for use withthe type of equipment pod described with respect to FIG. 2 is topermanently attach such equipment pods to the rotatable platform 77 nearthe outer circumference thereof. Under such a modification, the platform77 would be rotated 180 to transfer a given specialty equipment pod fromone examining room to facing into the other examining room. I

A modification of the equipment core area 35 of FIG. 5 is shown in FIG.6 wherein an elliptically shaped track 93 allows the equipment pods 37,39 and 41 to be transferred therearound. Crossing the elliptical track93 is another track 95 which joins the examining rooms 11 and 13 insubstantially a straight line. The equipment pod 39 is shown in theexamining room 13. When the doctor desires to examine a patient in theexamining room 11, the equipment pod 39 is transferred manually or byautomatic equipment along the track 95 into the examining room 11. Whenthe first doctor is through and a doctor having a different specialtyand requiring a different equipment pod begins to use the facility, theequipment pod 39 is transferred to the elliptical track 93 for storagethereon and one of the other pods 37 or 41 is moved onto the track 95for use by the doctor in each of the examining rooms 11 and 13alternately. The embodiment of FIG. 6 may additionally be modified asshown in FIG. 6A by eliminating the track 95 and providing bulges on anelliptical track 94 on opposite sides thereof to extend near the rooms11 and 13. All three pods would then be moved around the track 94 eachtime a doctor desired to transfer a given pod from near one room to nearthe other.

Referring to FIG. 7, an embodiment of the invention is shown wherein theexamining rooms I1 and 13 take on a circular shape for the reason thataccess to the core area 35 is provided by sliding circular walls 97 and99. The movable circular wall 97 may be supported, for instance, by aball-bearing track which allows it to be moved either manually or withautomatic mechanical motive equipment. The movable wall 97 isdimensioned so that it may be moved into a position for its opening 101either to coincide with an opening 103 of the fixed wall, as shown, orto stop in front of one of the equipment pods 53, 55 or 57. Other typesof pods and arrangements as described herein, of course, could beutilized in the core area. The movable circular wall 99 is similar tothe circular wall 97 with its opening 105 shown in a position adjacentthe equipment pod 61.

The pod 61 has been moved along a circular track 59 to be slightlywithin the examining room 13 and adjacent to the examining table 27. Inthis position of the circular sliding wall 99, the main entrance opening107 is closed off. However, when either of the openings 103 or 107 areclosed, the wall 97 or 99, respectively, will be in a position to allowaccess to or from the examining rooms through openings 109 and 111. Whena doctor has completed examining the patient in the examining room 13 ofFIG. 7, the equipment pod 61 is withdrawn into the core area 35, thesliding circular wall 99 will move to a position so that its opening 105aligns with the opening 107. The patient and the doctor can then leavethrough the opening 107. When doctor enters the examining room 11through the door 103, the circular wall 97 is rotated so that itsopening 103 is adjacent a track 63 to allow the equipment pod 55 totravel along the track 63 into or adjacent to the examining room 11. Itwill be noted that the moving wall 97 may be rotated to allow theequipment pod 55 to come into the room 11 before the doctor enters,since the door 109 will then be free for his entrance.

When the doctor having a different specialty takes over the medicalfacility of FIG. 7, the moving circular walls 97 and 99 are then causedto have their openings 101 and 105 stop in front of a differentequipment pod, such as either of the equipment pods 53 or 57. Thischange can involve merely manual stopping of the circular walls 97 and99 each time the doctor changes the examining room or could beprogrammed into automatic equipment moving the circular doors andappropriate pod.

The embodiment of FIG. 7 is optionally provided with equipment shelvesor cabinets 98 and 100 attached to the moving walls 97 and 99,respectively. These shelves are located so as to always be near therespective openings 101 and 105 of the moving walls 97 and 99 forconvenient access by a doctor no matter which of the equipment pods isbeing used. Manually operated doors 108 and 110 may be provided in themoving walls 97 and 99, respectively, for optional access by a doctor toa pod, such as pod 53, other than the pod (55) primarily in use. Suchadditional access is provided for a doctor to obtain equipment that hedoes not use often enough to require placement thereof on his specialtypod such as the pod 55.

The movable wall 97 of FIG. 7 extends along a path 104 from its positionshown when moved to a position to provide access to a pod from the room11. The movable wall 99 extends along a path 106 from its position shownwhen moved to a position to open the doorway 107. The use of such wallsinstead of the individual doors described before has the advantages ofbeing more pleasant in appearance, eliminating a swinging door which isspace consuming and cumbersome, and automatically assures equipmentaccessibility and patient privacy. The walls 97 and 99 are preferablymade rigid so that their curved shape makes top support of the doorunnecessary when a sliding support in the floor is utilized.

The embodiments of the present invention described with respect to FIGS.1-7 have utilized a core area 35 with all the necessary equipment podsstored therein. Somewhat improved flexibility can be had in a core areaof reduced size by other embodiments of the invention to be describedwherein specialty equipment pods are movable from a storage area to acore area adjacent to two examining rooms. An example of this aspect ofthe present invention is illustrated in FIG. 8 wherein a medicalfacility that is a modification of FIG. 7 is described. Referring toFIG. 8, a triangularly shaped pod 113 is positioned in a core areaadjacent the examining rooms 11 and 13 by movement along tracks 115 froma storage are containing several pods having different specialtyequipment on them. The examining room 11 is fitted in FIG. 8 with asolid slidable circular wall 123 which is shown in a position to isolatethe room 11 from the pod 113 while allowing entrance into the room 11through the door 103. The examination room 13 includes a-slidablenon-flexible wall 125 shown in a position to block off the door opening107 but to allow access from the room 13 to the pod 113. When the doctorfinishes the patient examination in room 13, he proceeds to theexamination room 11 after the moveable wall 125 slides into a positionto open up the door 107 while blocking off access to the core areaoccupied by the pod 113. Similarly, the solid door 123 is rotated toblock off the door 103 after the doctor has entered the examining room11 to allow his access to the core area occupied by the pod 113. When adoctor having a different specialty takes over the medical facility, thepod 113 is removed along the tracks 115 to the storage area (not shown)and a different pod having different specialty equipment desired by thesecond doctor is moved along the tracks 115 from the storage area to theposition formally occupied by the pod 113.

Advantages to the configuration of FIG. 8 are that a small core areaonly is required and that equipment for any specialty is made availableto the rooms 11 and 13 at a common location. Equipment on the pod 113 isaccessible to a doctor in either examining room without moving the podout of the core area. If it is desired to move the pod into theexamining rooms, the small core area in FIG. 8 has the advantage ofshortening the travel distance of the pod.

FIG. 9 shows a medical facility with square rather than round examiningrooms 11 and 13. A door 127 in the common wall between the examiningrooms 11 and 13 allows the doctor to walk directly between them. Themajor difference between FIG. 9 and FIG. 8 is that a pod is carriedbetween the core and storage areas by a truck. A truck 129 is shown inFIG. 9 in position in the core area between the examining rooms 11 and13. The truck 129 has a track 131 thereon for guiding a specialtyequipment pod 133 carried thereby off of the truck and into theexamining rooms. The examining room 11 has a permanently installed track135 for receiving the equipment stand 133 into that room. The examiningroom 13 has a permanently installed track 137 for receiving theequipment stand 133 in that room. When the doctor is through with apatient examination in the examining room 13, he proceeds to theexamining room 11 while the equipment pod 133 is moved across the truck129 on the track 131 and into the examining room 11 on the track 135.This movement may be accomplished mannually or by appropriate automaticelectro-magnetic equipment.

The use of trucks as shown in FIG. 9 may be modified a number of ways toprovide equipment pod movement between examining rooms according toFIGS. l-7. An equipment truck, such as the truck 129 of FIG. 9, may bemodified to contain an equipment pod which is mov'- able thereon in amanner similar to the movement of equipment pods'within'thecore area 35of any of FIGS.

1-7. Referring to FIG. 10, a platform 139 is rotatable with respect toits base (not shown). The base travels along the track 115. A pluralityof equipment pods are mounted on the platform 139 near its outsidecircumference. Shown in FIG. is an equipment pod 141 in position for usein the examining room 13. An equipment pod 143 is also carried by therotatable platform 139 for use by a doctor having a different specialtyor may be used to carry equipment desirable but not regularly used bythe doctor practicing a specialty for which the equipment pod 141 isprimarily designed. As the doctor moves between examining rooms, theplatform 139 is rotated so that the equipment pod 141 alternatelypresents its equipment face between the examining rooms. When a doctordesires to use the medical facility to practice a medical specialty forwhich neither of the pods 141 or 143 is acceptable, the truck 138 isremoved to a storage area along the tracks 115 and a new truck movedinto position in the core area. It will be noted that the rotatableplatform-of FIG. 10 is similar to that described with respect to FIG. 5.Furthermore, the platform 139 could be modified to have tracks thereoncorresponding to the structure of the platform 77 of FIG. 5.

To further show the adaptation of the core area ideas explained withrespect to FIGS. 1-7, FIGS. 11 and 12 show modifications of the conceptshown in FIG. 8 wherein pods are removeably inserted in a core areadirectly without the aid of supporting trucks. An equipment pod 147moves into a core area 145 from a storage area (not shown) along tracks148. The technique for moving the pod 147 between examining rooms ofFIG. 1 1 may be immediately recognized as basically the same as thatdescribed with respect to FIG. 2. When the doctor using the facilitychanges and the specialty of the second doctor is different, the pod 147is removed to a storage area on the tracks 148 and a new pod containingdifferent specialty equipment is moved along the tracks 148 from thestorage area and positioned in the core area 145 for use by the seconddoctor.

FIG. 12 shows a variation of FIG. 1 1 according to another adaptation ofthe core area concepts explained with respect to FIGS. l-7. Twoindependent pods 159 and 157 have been linked up in a storage area (notshown) and moved along the tracks 115 into the position shown in a corearea adjacent the examining rooms 11 and 13. The pod 159 is shown inFIG. 12 not to be in use. The pod 157 is shown in FIG. 12 to be in usein the examining room 13. The method of moving the equipment pod betweenexamining rooms is shown to be by guiding tracks. When the doctor usingthe specialty equipment pod 157 is through using the facilities and anew doctor begins his patient examinations, the equipment pod 159 may beused by this second doctor who would then move it between the examiningrooms through different doors of the wall surrounding the core area thanthe doors through which the equipment pod 157 is moved between examiningrooms. Having two pods available to a doctor of a given specialty hasthe further advantage that the pod not generally used the examiningrooms 200 or 201. Similarly, a core area 205 is provided to beaccessible from either of the examining rooms 201 or 202. A core area206 is accessible from either of the examining rooms 202 or 203. Anexample of use for the medical facility of FIG. 12A is for one doctor tooccupy examining rooms 200 and 201 with his primary examining equipmentbrought into the core area 204. Another doctor may simultaneously occupythe examining rooms 202 and 203 with his primary equipment brought intothe core area 206. Secondary equipment (equipment used onlyoccasionally) for each of the two doctors is contained in the core area205.

Another use of the continually notched medical facility of FIG. 12A isin a hospital where the rooms 200, 201, 202 and 203 represent patienthospital rooms. Various pieces of equipment can then be continuouslymade available to each patient room. Such equipment may include thenurses station on a movable platform. Emergency equipment is made a partof the nurses station which may be rapidly moved (tracked) to any of thepatient rooms.

An advantage of the medical facility embodiments of FIGS. 8-12 whereinequipment pods are moved into and out of the common core area is thatthe core area may be made of reduced size compared to that of theembodiments described with respect to FIGS. 1-7. In the embodiments ofFIGS. 1-7, a number of pods are permanently located in the core area. Tofurther minimize the size of the core area but without the necessity ofmoving pods in and out thereof, several specialty pods may be attachedto rotatable sections of a common wall as shown in FIG. 13. This formsan exposed core area. A common wall seperates the examining room 11 and13. Attached as part of the wall 190 are specialty equipment pods 191,192 and 193. Each pod is pivotable about its respective pivot 19], 102or 193'. The pods are built into the wall 190 in such a manner that therooms 11 and 13 remain wholly separated to isolate patients therein. Adoor is provided in the wall separating'the rooms 11 and 13 for use bythe examining doctor. The pod 191 is shown with its equipment 194 facinginto examining room 11 while the pods 192 and 193 are shown with theirequipment facing into examining room 13. If a doctor is using a facilitythat requires special equipment 194, he merely rotates the equipment pod191 when changing examining rooms. The pods 192 and 193 may containexamining equipment for other medical specialties. Although theembodiment of FIG. 13 adds some clutter to the examining rooms 11 and13, equipment for various specialties remains readily accessible withouthaving to duplicate the equipment for each of the two examining roomsand with a minimum core area size. Furtheris occupied at one time by aseparate doctor who may be of the same or different specialty than theother doctors. The pair of examining rooms 165 are shown not to be inuse while, the remaining examining rooms are shown to be in use. Typicalof the equipment core areas of each pair of examining rooms is the coreare 171 into which a track 173 extends from a position adjacent agenerally circular truck storage track 175. Access for equipment podsout of the core area 171 may be by any of the techniques describedhereinabove. It is shown in FIG. 14 that the core area 171 is designedto receive from a truck such as that shown at 177, a plurality ofequipment pods 179, 181, and 183 carried thereby. The pods may becarried directly by the storage track 175 but are preferrably movedtherealong on trucks such as truck 177. When the truck 177 is drawnalong the track 175 to a position opposite the core area 171, each ofthe pods 177, 181, and 183 is moved into the core 171 along the track173, one at a time. The medical facility of FIG. 14 gives greatflexibility in possible pod combinations and movement.

Although the preferred embodiments of this invention have been describedwith respect to the Figures primarily for a medical facility to be usedby two or more doctors having different specialties, it will be notedthat the facility concepts also have advantages for other types offacility use. For instance, such a facility may be occupied by a solepractitioner. The core area concepts of this invention provide a solepractitioner with easy access to a single set of examining equipmentfrom two examining rooms. The sole practitioner could practice generalmedicine. Further, a number of doctors practicing the same specialtycould use such a facility. One equipment pod would then contain theequipment most often used in the given specialty while other pods couldcontain equipment most less frequently utilized. The concepts of thepresent invention also have utility for building structures used forother purposes than a medical facility. It shall be understood,therefore, that the invention is not limited to the specificarrangements shown, and that changes and modifications may be madewithin the scope of the appended claims.

What is claimed is:

1. A medical facility comprising,

at least two patient examining rooms including walls,

standard medical examining equipment located in each of said at leasttwo patient examining rooms, a common equipment core area roomimmediately adjacent each of said at least two patient examining rooms,said core area having separate common wall areas with each of said atleast two patient examining rooms, each of said common wall areas havingan opening adapted for passing equipment therethrough and closure meansfor closing each of said openings for maintaining patient privacy, eachof said openings through said common wall areas providing the onlyaccess to said core area room,

special medical examining equipment normally stored in said core arearoom,

said core area room including core area guide means for transferringsaid special equipment along a predetermined path within the core arearoom,

said patient examining rooms having patient ingress and egress openingsin said walls other than said common wall areas, and

examining room guide means coupled to said core area guide means fortransferring said special equipment along a predetermined path throughthe openings and outwardly away from said common walls of the examiningroom whereby a doctor alternately utilizing said at least two patientexamining rooms may examine a succession of patients with the samespecial equipment while walking a minimal distance.

2. A medical facility according to claim 1 wherein said core area guidemeans and said examining room guide means for transferring said specialequipment along said predetermined path includes tracks for supportingthe weight of said special equipment and guiding it along a path throughthe core area between examining rooms.

3. A medical facility according to claim 1 wherein said core area guidemeans and said examining room guide for transferring said specialequipment along said predetermined path includes tracks for supportingthe weight of said special equipment and guiding it along saidpredetermined path, said tracks being oriented in a manner that the samevertical surface of the special equipment is the leading surface facedinto each of said at least two examining rooms when moved along saidpredetermined path. 7

4. A medical facility according to claim 1 wherein said core area guidemeans for transferring said special equipment along a predetermined pathwithin said core area includes a pivot means stationary with respect tosaid facility about which said special equipment may rotate to face intoeither of said at least two patient examining rooms.

5. A medical facility according to claim 4 wherein said pivot meansincludes a rotating platform within the core area room upon which saidspecial equipment is stored.

6. The medical facility of claim 1 wherein said equipment core area roomis adapted to contain a plurality of distinct pieces of said specialequipment movable independently of each other on said core area guidemeans and said examining room guide means through a single opening ineach common wall area between each room and said equipment core arearoom.

7. The medical facility of claim 1 wherein said equipment core area roomis adapted to contain a plurality of distinct pieces of said specialequipment movable independently of each other, said common wall areaseach having one distinct opening for each of said pieces of equipment,and wherein said core area guide means and said examining room guidemeans for conveying said equipment into each of said examining roomsincludes means for limiting travel of each piece of equipment along anexclusive path through its own exclusive opening in each of said commonwall areas.

8. The medical facility of claim 1 wherein said at least two examiningrOoms are circular in shape with a movable circular wall in the interiorof each examining room, each movable circular wall operable to open andclose its associated common wall opening between the examining room andthe common core area.

9. The medical facility of claim 1 wherein each of said movable circularwalls controls an opening in its respective examining room for personnelentrance and exit such that the opening into the core area room in saidcommon wall is opened by the movable wall.

10. The medical facility of claim 1 wherein each movable circular wallhas attached thereto supply means in a manner to be adjacent itsassociated common wall opening between the examining room and the commoncore area room when said common wall opening is opened by said movablewall.

11. A medical facility, comprising,

at least two patient examining rooms,

a commonrequipment core room area immediately adjacent each of said atleast two patient examining rooms, said core area having separate commonwall areas with each of said at least two patient examining roomS,

' said core room area adapted to receive one or more of a'plurality ofpods that each carry at least some medical equipment not found on theother of said plurality of pods, said core area being adapted to containtwo or more equipment pods movable in a closed loop path within saidcore area and further wherein each of said common wallareas has a singleopening therein-for passage of equipment pods from said core room area,

means providing a predetermined path for transferrooms,

a rotatable platform within said core area adapted to carry said two ormore equipment pods thereon in order to provide said closed loop pathmovement of said pods, each of said pods mounted on straight line trackswhich extend across said platform, and wherein each of said patientexamining rooms includes a single pod carrying and guiding trackpositioned through a single opening of each of said common wall areas ina manner to form an exten-H s'ion of one of said straight line tracks onsaid movable platform when the platform is rotated to a particularposition, whereby said platform may be retated to place its straightline track carrying a desired equipment pod in a position so that thepod may be transferred between patient examining rooms across saidrotatable'platform, and

whereby a doctor may examine patients in both of said at least twoexamining rooms by transferring therebetween the one of said pluralityof pods which contains medical equipment most often utilized by him.

1. A medical facility comprising, at least two patient examining roomsincluding walls, standard medical examining equipment located in each ofsaid at least two patient examining rooms, a common equipment core arearoom immediately adjacent each of said at least two patient examiningrooms, said core area having separate common wall areas with each ofsaid at least two patient examining rooms, each of said common wallareas having an opening adapted for passing equipment therethrough andclosure means for closing each of said openings for maintaining patientprivacy, each of said openings through said common wall areas providingthe only access to said core area room, special medical examiningequipment normally stored in said core area room, said core area roomincluding core area guide means for transferring said special equipmentalong a predetermined path within the core area room, said patientexamining rooms having patient ingress and egress openings in said wallsother than said common wall areas, and examining room guide meanscoupled to said core area guide means for transferring said specialequipment along a predetermined path through the openings and outwardlyaway from said common walls of the examining room whereby a doctoralternately utilizing said at least two patient examining rooms mayexamine a succession of patients with the same special equipment whilewalking a minimal distance.
 2. A medical facility according to claim 1wherein said core area guide means and said examining room guide meansfor transferring said special equipment along said predetermined pathincludes tracks for supporting the weight of said special equipment andguiding it along a path through the core area between examining rooms.3. A medical facility according to claim 1 wherein said core area guidemeans and said examining room guide for transferring said specialequipment along said predetermined path includes tracks for supportingthe weight of said special equipment and guiding it along saidpredetermined path, said tracks being oriented in a manner that the samevertical surface of the special equipment is the leading surface facedinto each of said at least two examining rooms when moved along saidpredetermined path.
 4. A medical facility according to claim 1 whereinsaid core area guide means for transferring said special equipment alonga predetermined path within said core area includes a pivot meansstationary with respect to said facility about which said specialequipment may rotate to face into either of said at least two patientexamining rooms.
 5. A medical facility according to claim 4 wherein saidpivot means includes a rotating platform within the core area room uponwhich said special equipment is stored.
 6. The medical facility of claim1 wherein said equipment core area room is adapted to contain aplurality of distinct pieces of said special equipment movableindependently of each other on said core area guide means and saidexamining room guide means through a single opening in each common wallarea between each room and said equipment core area room.
 7. The medicalfacility of claim 1 wherein said equipment core area room is adapted tocontain a plurality of distinct pieces of said special equipment movableindependently of each other, said common wall areas each having onedisTinct opening for each of said pieces of equipment, and wherein saidcore area guide means and said examining room guide means for conveyingsaid equipment into each of said examining rooms includes means forlimiting travel of each piece of equipment along an exclusive paththrough its own exclusive opening in each of said common wall areas. 8.The medical facility of claim 1 wherein said at least two examiningrooms are circular in shape with a movable circular wall in the interiorof each examining room, each movable circular wall operable to open andclose its associated common wall opening between the examining room andthe common core area.
 9. The medical facility of claim 1 wherein each ofsaid movable circular walls controls an opening in its respectiveexamining room for personnel entrance and exit such that the openinginto the core area room in said common wall Is opened by the movablewall.
 10. The medical facility of claim 1 wherein each movable circularwall has attached thereto supply means in a manner to be adjacent itsassociated common wall opening between the examining room and the commoncore area room when said common wall opening is opened by said movablewall.
 11. A medical facility, comprising, at least two patient examiningrooms, a common equipment core room area immediately adjacent each ofsaid at least two patient examining rooms, said core area havingseparate common wall areas with each of said at least two patientexamining rooms, said core room area adapted to receive one or more of aplurality of pods that each carry at least some medical equipment notfound on the other of said plurality of pods, said core area beingadapted to contain two or more equipment pods movable in a closed looppath within said core area and further wherein each of said common wallareas has a single opening therein for passage of equipment pods fromsaid core room area, means providing a predetermined path fortransferring a pod contained by said core area between said at least twopatient examining rooms through said core area, said means including atleast one opening in each of said common wall areas through which saidpod may pass, each of said openings being provided with means forclosing same so that at least one of said common wall areas may becompletely covered during examination of a patient in either of said atleast two patient examining rooms, a rotatable platform within said corearea adapted to carry said two or more equipment pods thereon in orderto provide said closed loop path movement of said pods, each of saidpods mounted on straight line tracks which extend across said platform,and wherein each of said patient examining rooms includes a single podcarrying and guiding track positioned through a single opening of eachof said common wall areas in a manner to form an extension of one ofsaid straight line tracks on said movable platform when the platform isrotated to a particular position, whereby said platform may be rotatedto place its straight line track carrying a desired equipment pod in aposition so that the pod may be transferred between patient examiningrooms across said rotatable platform, and whereby a doctor may examinepatients in both of said at least two examining rooms by transferringtherebetween the one of said plurality of pods which contains medicalequipment most often utilized by him.